Twins waste bases-loaded chance in 11th

NEW YORK — Umpire Phil Cuzzi blew a call. Then the Minnesota Twins missed a chance to make it right.

Cuzzi called Joe Mauer’s fly down the left-field line leading off the 11th inning foul, though the umpires later admitted it was the wrong call.

“We went in (postgame) and we looked at it, and it’s a clear indication an incorrect decision was made,” crew chief Tim Tschida said Friday night. “There’s a guy who’s sitting in the umpire’s room who feels horrible.”

Mauer later reached on a single, the first of three straight hits with no outs, and the Twins had every reason to believe they would pull off another remarkable win.

Instead, the team that needed an inspired September run to secure the AL Central title in a one-game playoff failed three straight times against reliever Dave Robertson, who was making his first playoff appearance.

Mark Teixeira then led off the bottom of the inning with a homer and the Yankees had a 4-3 victory and a 2-0 lead in the first round of the AL playoffs.

“It’s really disappointing,” manager Ron Gardenhire said. “I’ve been walked off enough times here. Some of the things that happened out there were pretty disappointing.”

Mauer’s ball hit off Melky Cabrera’s glove and bounced into the stands for what should have been a grounds-rule double.

Umpires down the line are added only for the postseason and do not get much work on plays like Mauer’s drive from their outfield position. During the regular season they have a better look running down the line from the infield.

“It’s a tough one to practice,” Tschida said of making the call. “Your first move is always to get out of the way. So getting into position is a little bit tough.”

It’s been a tough week for umpires starting with a call that went in the Twins favor. Replays showed a pitch brushed off the Tigers’ Brandon Inge’s jersey with the bases loaded in the 12th inning of their tiebreaker Tuesday. The umps appeared to miss a call at third in the opener of the Rockies-Phillies division series, and two calls appeared on replay to be wrong in the Red Sox-Angels matchup Thursday night.

Video replay is only used on potential home run calls, and Tschida wouldn’t say if the rule needs to be changed.

“That decision is going to be made by somebody at a much higher level than I,” he said.

Mauer said he trying to get to second base on the foul-fair ball.

“I thought it was going to be fair,” he said.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi knows his team got some help, something that the World Series championship teams of the late ’90s always seemed to get.

“Obviously, there’s nothing perfect in this game,” Girardi said. “And does the situation change? They have first and third and we’re still going to play the infield in. (Michael) Cuddyer gets a hit, it may change the game. But there’s always that element of human error in the game, and we got a little break.”

Jason Kubel followed Mauer’s hit with a single off pitcher Damaso Marte and Cuddyer greeted Robertson with a single to center. The next two batters swung at first pitches.

Delmon Young, who batted .370 over the last three weeks of the season, lined out to Teixeira at first base. Undisciplined Carlos Gomez slapped a grounder to Teixeira, who threw home for the force. Brendan Harris flied to center to end the opportunity.

The Twins had rallied several times to beat the Tigers in 12 innings on Tuesday to secure a spot against the Yankees. They went 17-4 down the stretch to force the playoff.

Not this time. Instead, the Yankees head to Minnesota with the commanding lead in the best-of-five series.

The Twins would not have been in the 11th inning if closer Joe Nathan had not blown his second save of the year against the Yankees. He came on in the ninth with a two-run lead but gave up Teixeira’s first hit of the division series and Alex Rodriguez’s homer to right-center that made it 3-3.

The Twins left runners on base in every inning, 17 in all, and could not capitalize on five walks and two hit batters by New York starter A.J. Burnett. Combine that with a 1-for-9 effort with runners in scoring position in Game 1 and it’s easy to see why Minnesota is going to need another crazy comeback to prolong their season.

“We left a small village on base,” Harris said.